Derrick Thomas to enter College Football Hall of Fame
Derrick Thomas will be announced as a member of the College Football Hall of Fame on Thursday, a source confirmed to The Star.
Thomas, already a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame after a stellar 11-year career with the Chiefs, was a unanimous All-America linebacker at Alabama in 1988.
That year, Thomas won the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker. He recorded 27 sacks that season, an NCAA record that stands today. He finished his college career with 52 sacks.
Thomas was the Chiefs’ first-round selection in the 1989 NFL Draft, fourth overall. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009, nine years after his death. Three weeks after his car went off Interstate 435 near the airport, Thomas died as a result of a pulmonary embolism.
He’ll be one of 16 — 14 players and two coaches — scheduled for induction at the Hall of Fame ceremony in New York this December.
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This story was originally published May 21, 2014 at 1:19 PM with the headline "Derrick Thomas to enter College Football Hall of Fame."